Longitudinally split barges which are interconnected by means of hinges

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an improvement in longitudinally split dump barges where the two barge halves are interconnected by hinges so that by means of one or more pressure cylinders, the two halves may be pivoted away from and towards each other. The pressure cylinder comprises two double acting pistons with opposingly directed piston rods which at their free ends are hinged at an suitable distance below the interconnecting hinges of the barge. When the barge is opened, only the strong cylinder shell is exposed in the gap opening between the barge halves, the piston rods with the finely polished surfaces being protected inside the two barge halves.

United States Patent Inventor Kjell Werenskiold Belrkestua near Oslo,Norway App]. No. 804,501 Filed Mar. 5, 1969 Patented June 1, 1971Assignee lngenior F. Selmer A/S Oslo, Norway LONGITUDINALLY SPLIT BARGESWHICH ARE INTERCONNECTED BY MEANS OF HINGES 3,404,650 10/1968 MillerABSTRACT: The present invention relates to an improvement inlongitudinally split dump barges where the two barge halves areinterconnected by hinges so that by means of one or more pressurecylinders, the two halves may be pivoted away from and towards eachother. The pressure cylinder comprises two double acting pistons withopposingly directed piston rods which at their free ends are hinged atan suitable distance below the interconnecting hinges of the barge. Whenthe barge is opened, only the strong cylinder shell is exposed in thegap opening between the barge halves, the piston rods with the finelypolished surfaces being protected inside the two 'barge halves.

PATENT-ED JUN Han INVENTOR.

Kw WMEM 7? WM W mag-f LONGITUDINALLY SPLIT BARGES WHICH AREINTERCONNECTED BY MEANS OF HINGES The present invention concerns animprovement in longitudinally split dump barges where the two bargehalves are interconnected by hinges in such a manner that, by means ofone or more pressure cylinders, the two halves may be pivoted apart foremptying the load, and pivoted together to form a conventional hullshape.

Longitudinally split and hinged dump barges are previously known whereopening and closing is effected by means of double acting hydrauliccylinders positioned at each end of the hold.

One known solution to this problem is a conventional hydraulic doubleacting cylinder, where the cylinder end is hinged to a point in acompartment, open to the sea, inside one barge half and the piston rodend is hinged in a similar manner in the other half of the barge. Thissolution has two major disadvantages:

1. When the hydraulic cylinder is in extended position, the cylinderacts as a column with its minimum moment of inertia thereof at themiddle of the column where the greatest strain against buckling occurs.The maximum moment of inertia is derived from the dimensions of thepiston rod only.

2. When the barge is fully open, portions of the highly polished pistonrod are exposed in the gap between the two barge halves,'thus increasingthe risk of damage from material being dumped from the barge or driftingin the sea.

A further solution to the problem is the locating of two cylinders sideby side in a watertight compartment at each end of the hold in onehalf-barge. The said cylinders being interconnected by means of acrossbar to a common push and tension rod, connected by a hinge to a rodprojecting through the sideplates, said rodbeing sealed with a gland andconnected by a hinge to the other barge half. This solution iscomplicated, however, and liable to damage due to the many hinges,glands and exposed polished surfaces in the area between the two bargehalves.

The object of the present invention is to provide an operating cylinderof simple design yielding optimal reliability in operation,andovercoming the above described disadvantages.

This is achieved by 'means of a double acting hydraulic cylinderprovided with two opposed pistons, each piston connected to a piston rodprojecting through a gland at each end of the cylinder. The free ends ofthe piston rods are pivoted to respective barge halves inside acompartment which-is open to the sea butwatertight to the interior ofthe barge. The hydraulic cylinder is so designed that, when the barge isfully open, only the cylinder itself is exposed in the gap formedbetween the two barge halves, and the highly polished cylinder rods arethus protected from damage caused by the dumped material or floatingdebris. When the cylinder has reached its maximum stroke and acts as acolumn, it is in central position and, with its great moment of inertia,forms a very strong compression member.

The hydraulic fluid is conveyed to the cylinder through central bores inboth piston rods which are provided with hose connections adjacent tothe pivoted ends of the rod, connection of hydraulic hoses in exposedareas where they are liable to damage being avoided thereby. ln thismanner a compact, sturdy, reliableand comparatively simple mechanism isobtained for checking and activating the opening and closing movement ofthe two interconnected barge halves.

The maximum discharge opening of the barge is governed by the verticaldistance between the interconnecting hinges and the centerline line ofthe hydraulic cylinder, and the maximum stroke of the hydrauliccylinder. With a barge having loading capacity of 200 yard, a dischargeopening of 6 feet 6 inches has proved satisfactory for all types dredgedmaterial.

The invention is characterized by a hydraulic cylinder comprising onecylinder fitted with two opposed pistons and piston rods which areconnected to the two barge halves at a suitable vertical distance fromthe interconnecting hinges of the barge and, when the barge is open onlythe strong cylinder shell is exposed in the gap between the bargehalves, and the piston rods which are easily damaged, are alwaysprotected within the barge.

Utmost security against damage to the hydraulic hose connections isobtained by connecting the said connections to the free ends of thepiston rods rather than to the actual cylinder. The piston rods areprovided with generally known central bores, and a furthercharacterizing feature resides in the fact that one bore communicateswith the chamber between the two pistons, and the bore in the secondpiston rod communicates with one of the chambers between the end coversof the piston and the cylinder, and these two outer chambers areinterconnected so that when the hydraulic fluid enters one or other ofthe piston rod bores, the pistons will move away from each other ortowards each other, and the cylinder will be in central position whenthe full stroke has been achieved.

The invention is described hereinafter with reference to the drawingswhere:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic cross section through the barge in fully openposition, and

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the hydraulic cylinder.

FIG. 1 shows a section of a longitudinally split barge where the twohalves l are pivoted away from each other about the axis of pivoting ofthe hinges 3 by means of the hydraulic cylinder 2. The two inclinedsideplates of the bold are indicated in dotted lines 4 and have aninclination such that any type of dredged material will slidetherealong, and fall out when the barge is in open position as indicatedon the drawing. The barge is equipped with an aggregate 5 for thedelivery of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic cylinder 2 which isprovided with connections 6, adjacent the pivot connections 7 betweenthe cylinder, and the barge halves 1. The sealing means between the twobarge halves may be of any type and construction, and is not furtherdescribed herein.

The hydraulic cylinder 2 is shown as a longitudinal section in FIG. 2,and consists ofa cylinder 10 with two pistons 11,12 with opposinglydirected piston rods 13,14, and bores 15 for interaction with the pivotconnections 7 on the barge halves 1. The piston rods 13,14 are providedwith longitudinal central bores 16,17, which both extend from the hoseconnections 6 at the free ends of the piston rods 13,14 to the pistons11,12. The bore 17 extends through the piston 12 and terminates in thechamber 18 between the two pistons 11,12, and the bore 16 terminates inthe chamber 19 formed between the cylinder end and the piston 11. Thetwo outer chambers 19,19 of the cylinder 10 are interconnected by a pipe20.

When a hydraulic fluid enters the bore 17 through the connection 6, thefluid will flow through the bore 17 and into the central chamber 18 andforce the pistons 11,12 apart, thereby forcing the fluid located in theouter chamber 19' through the pipe 20 and to the outer chamber 19, fromwhich the fluid continues to flow through the bore 16 and out throughthe connection 6 to a reservoir.

By reversing the direction of flow the opposite effect will be achieved:The pistons 11,12 with the piston rods 13,14 are forced against eachother so that the barge halves l are swung towards each other, thusclosing the hold.

The two barge halves may be interlocked in closed position by a suitablelocking device which is not described herein.

1 claim:

1. In a longitudinally split dump barge comprising two barge halves theupper portions of which are interconnected by hinges in such a way thatthe two barge halves are adapted to be pivoted away from and towardseach other respectively to empty the load and close the barge, at leastone hydraulic cylinder for effecting the pivoting of the barge halvesand for sealing and firmly interlocking them, the improvement whereinthe hydraulic cylinder is provided with two double acting pistons,opposingly directed piston rods having finely polished surfacesrespectively connected to said pistons, the free ends of the piston rodsbeing hinged to the respective barge halves at a suitable distance belowthe interconnecting hinges of the barge, and the cylinder and pistonrods being located in a position such that, when the barge is open, onlythe cylinder is exposed in the gap opening between the barge halveswhile the piston rods with their finely polished surfaces are locatedrespectively within the barge halves and protected thereby.

2. A longitudinally split barge according to claim 1, wherein the pistonrods in the hydraulic cylinder are provided with longitudinal centralbores for supply and evacuation respectively of hydraulic fluid to andfrom the cylinder, connections at the free ends of the piston rods withthe bores for hydraulic fluid supply, the bore in one piston rod havinga connection with

1. In a longitudinally split dump barge comprising two barge halves theupper portions of which are interconnected by hinges in such a way thatthe two barge halves are adapted to be pivoted away from and towardseach other respectively to empty the load and close the barge, at leastone hydraulic cylinder for effecting the pivoting of the barge halvesand for sealing and firmly interlocking them, the improvement whereinthe hydraulic cylinder is provided with two double acting pistons,opposingly directed piston rods having finely polished surfacesrespectively connected to said pistons, the free ends of the piston rodsbeing hinged to the respective barge halves at a suitable distance belowthe interconnecting hinges of the barge, and the cylinder and pistonrods being located in a position such that, when the barge is open, onlythe cylinder is exposed in the gap opening between the barge halveswhile the piston rods with their finely polished surfaces are locatedrespectively within the barge halves and protected thereby.
 2. Alongitudinally split barge according to claim 1, wherein the piston rodsin the hydraulic cylinder are provided with longitudinal central boresfor supply and evacuation respectively of hydraulic fluid to and fromthe cylinder, connections at the free ends of the piston rods with thebores for hydraulic fluid supply, the bore in one piston rod having aconnection with the chamber between the two pistons, the bore throughthe other piston rod having a connection with the end chamber in thecylinder through which said other piston rod extends, and meansinterconnecting the end chambers of the cylinder for flow of hydraulicfluid, whereby the supply of hydraulic fluid through the bore of eithersaid one piston or said other piston forces the pistons respectivelyapart or together, while the cylinder itself remains in a centralposition when full stroke has been achieved in either direction.